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If a newly hatched orchid mantis isn’t both quick and cunning, it’s likely to end up an easy lunch for a larger predator. And since orchid mantises are unfussy carnivores that aren’t above cannibalism, even members of their own species pose an imminent threat. In this excerpt from BBC’s Life Story series, a newborn mantis must employ some spectacular inborn self-defence skills against a hungry jumping spider if it wants to survive its first day.
Narrator: David Attenborough
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History of technology
Master cartography and mythical creatures – the world according to the Catalan Atlas
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Mood and emotion
A century of letters captures the emotions of life in a new city, far from home
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Ageing and death
Death is a trip – how new research links near-death and DMT experiences
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The environment
Photographs of rainforests dissolving in acid strike a beautiful note of warning
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Technology and the self
Adaptive technologies have helped Stephen Hawking, and many more, find their voice
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Ecology and environmental sciences
Experience the dazzling displays that fireflies create when humans are far away
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Stories and literature
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Ecology and environmental sciences
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Music
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